Ruins of Adventure

It's like 2nd Edition with ascending ACs and Attack bonuses. What's not to love?

Abyssinia Coelacanth

Description:

Abyssinia appears as a tall, thin, waifish girl, with short-cropped blond hair and numerous piercings, though, as a follower of Leira, the goddess of deception, it is unlikely that this is her true appearance. She is named after her grandmother, an insane baroness from the island nation of Nimbral.

While pretty, Abyssinia is extremely anxious and uncomfortable around other people. She avoids touching other people except when absolutely necessary and her speech tends to come out as a rapid string of consciousness, rather than anything passing for conversation.

As a member of the Amazons, she answers to the name “Doesn’t Shake” short for her typical greeting “I don’t shake hands.”

The quicksilver eyes that every such character hides beneath his hood are themselves magical. They grant the character infravision with a range of 120 feet and allow the Nimbralese character to see magical auras (eliminating the need for a detect magic spell) and invisible things.

Clerics of Leira get a saving throw to resist the power of a ring of truth.

All clerics of Leira have +2 bonuses on their saving throws to disbelieve an illusion.

Clerics of Leira can cast phantasmal force once per day. At 3rd level, they can cast improved phantasmal force once per day and at 5th level, they can cast spectral force once per day.

Clerics can always count on assistance from temples of their faith. Assuming a local temple of the appropriate faith is available, a cleric can request and expect the following aid (and perhaps more):

Safe haven, food, and board within the temple. In exchange, the cleric is expected to help the other clergy present. This hospitality is automatically extended to as many companions as the priest has levels. (A generous and gracious temple may extend it to anyone.)

A loan. Moneys borrowed may equal up to twice the cleric’s level times a hundred (in gold pieces). The loan must be repaid within 30 days.

When traveling over long distances, an explorer covers ground at a one-third faster rate than a normal traveler would—that is, if a normal person can walk 24 miles in a day without force-marching, the explorer can walk 32 miles with the same exertion.

The Explorer can use find the path (as the priest spell) to sense the correct direction that will eventually lead to a desired geographical locale, which must be in an outdoor setting. The Explorer must have some clue, map, information, or body of research about the locale in order to use this ability. It can be used once per week, providing a day’s worth of guidance (hence it is of greatest use on an expedition of weeks or months duration).

Culture Sense: This ability allows the Explorer to acquire general knowledge about the laws and customs of a tribe, village, or settlement. Once per week, the Explorer may attempt to use this ability by touching a member of the tribe or village. The villager must have the knowledge the Explorer wishes to gain; for instance, the villager can’t be an infant or mentally deficient. Cooperation of the villager isn’t required; touching an attacking or sleeping villager works as well. The villager must make a saving throw vs. spells. If the throw succeeds, the Explorer learns nothing. If the throw fails, the Explorer acquires an instant understanding of the villager’s laws and customs, including those applicable to related clans or tribes. Information learned through this ability might include local laws (no one is allowed on the village streets after dark without written permission), accepted courtesies (strangers bow to all children), and cultural taboos (hats and other head coverings are considered offensive). Successful use of this ability also gives the Explorer a +1 reaction adjustment when encountering any other members of the tribe, village, or settlement.

Penalties:

Clerics of Leira suffer a -1 penalty to saving throws and attack rolls in direct sunlight.

Although the quicksilver eyes of these unusual characters do provide them with excellent eyesight, they have their weaknesses as well. The most important of these is because of their magical nature. If such a character is hit with a dispel magic, he must make a successful saving throw vs. spell or be blinded for a number of rounds equal to the level of the caster. If the character enters a magical dead zone, his eyesight instantly fails. A secondary disadvantage associated with the unusual eyes of Nimbralese characters involves attacks by creatures employing gaze weapons. Whenever a character makes a saving throw to avoid or lessen the effects of meeting another creatures gaze, he suffers a -4 penalty. Attacks of this type include the petrifying visage of a medusa or the charm ability of a vampire. Gaze attacks that do not require the victim to look into the eyes of the caster gain no advantage from these unusual eyes.

Whether they look impressive or just because they are from legendary Nimbral, these characters always attract attention. Whenever a character from Nimbral enters a village or town, he attracts 4d6 observers within 10+1d10 minutes. This crowd makes it easier for thieves to pick the pockets of the Nimbralese character and his cohorts (+10% bonus). In addition, the crowd makes it difficult for anything to be done quietly.

Unscrupulous and power-hungry wizards may also meet and become personal enemies of the character, seeking to steal secrets and magic from them. There is a 10% likelihood of this each month with a 5% cumulative chance for each of the character’s levels. This wizard is always at least twice the level of the character when the hostile relationship begins.

Constantly on the move, an explorer never allows herself to be burdened. An explorer cannot have retainers, hirelings, mercenaries, followers, or other servants until she reaches 12th level. Once the Explorer does attract followers, he may not have more than two followers at a time. He still gains the normal allotment, but only two will arrive at any given time and new followers will not appear until the current ones die or are dismissed.

Regardless of class, an Explorer has little interest in the responsibilities associated with property ownership. He will never build a castle, temple, or any other fortification.

The explorer cannot possess more gear and treasure than she can carry; she either converts the excess into a portable form (gems, etc.) or donates it to a worthy cause.

Because he spends little time in one place, and much of his time is spent on native cultures and geographical studies, an Explorer is less adept with animals than other characters. He suffers a -2 penalty on any non-weapon proficiency with “Animal” in the name (Animal Lore, Animal Handling, etc).

The intensive mental training that characters from Nimbral receive leaves them physically atrophied. As a result, they use the next lower sized die when rolling for hit points (i.e. d4 becomes d3). They never receive bonus hit points for exceptional Constitution scores.

Non-wizards from Nimbral (fighters, clerics, thieves, or spies) gain the spellcasting abilities of a Bard that is three levels lower than their current experience level. This character’s spellcasting is unaffected by the wearing of metal armor, unlike most other spellcasters.

At 9th level, the cleric’s holy symbol of Leira acts as an amulet of proof against detection and location.

Upon reaching 12th level, the cleric automatically attracts a fanatically loyal group of believers, provided the character has established a place of worship of significant size. The cleric can build this place of worship at any time during his career, but he does not attract believers until he reaches 8th level. These followers are normal warriors, 0-level soldiers, ready to fight for the cleric’s cause. The cleric attracts 20 to 200 (2d10 x10) of these followers; they arrive over a period of several weeks. After the initial followers assemble, no new followers trickle in to fill the ranks of those who have fallen in service. The DM decides the exact number and types of followers attracted by the cleric. The character can hire other troops as needed, but these are not as loyal as his followers.

Muscle. An cleirc may request the services of a number of 1st-level fighters equaling twice the priest’s level. All fighters will be equipped with chain mail and the traditional weapon of their faith (i.e. warhammers for Tyr or battle axes for Tempus). The time of service cannot exceed the cleric’s level in days, and the purpose of the mission should somehow advance the cause of the priest’s faith.

A cleric assistant of the same faith. The helper’s experience level equals half that of the priest served, rounded down; up to a maximum of 4th level. The assistant may be kept for up to one week per level of the priest before having to leave.